The present invention relates to a product management system and management method, and more particularly, to a product management system and management method which can manage the product configuration on a product-by-product basis from manufacturing to disposal of a product for each of component parts that comprise the product.
Generally, products such as home electric appliances, information related devices and so on may be returned to their manufacturing companies for replacement of parts and so on in order to fix a failure or upgrade the functional performance, after they have been manufactured by the manufacturing companies (including associated assembling companies) and once delivered to users. To this end, the manufacturing companies manage component parts for each type of products manufactured thereby and also manage information on the first users of respective products. The manufacturing companies, however, cannot manage these items unless information is provided from the users and so on about a change in configuration resulting from a repair or modification to each of their products, a change of the owner due to resale or the like, and so on, once their products have been sold to the users.
As prior art techniques which permit the configuration of products to be managed for each user, those described in JP-A-5-189445 (EPO520923), JP-5165843 (U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,261) and so on are known. These prior art techniques are intended for use by each product manufacturer to manage the product configuration for each of product types and further manage the product configuration of products purchased by each user based on the management information.
The foregoing prior art techniques, however, can be applied only to manufacturing companies which handle large scaled products such as a computer system, and their users, but not to home electric appliances for use by individuals, personal information related devices such as PC, and so on. This is because manufacturing companies are not provided with information on these personally used devices after they have been once sold, even if such a product has been transferred to a different owner, or even if such a product has been repaired. Also, even if prior art techniques as described above are available for application in such personal products, the manufacturing companies encounter difficulties in supporting an immense number of products and users.
Stated another way, the aforementioned prior art techniques imply problems in that the manufacturing companies cannot manage the product configuration for individual products after they have been sold, and cannot even manage where the products exist.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems of the above-mentioned prior art techniques and provide a product management system and management method which are capable of managing the product configuration on a product-by-product basis for each of parts comprising a product from manufacturing to disposal of the product and also capable of managing, to some degree, where individual products exist during their lifetime.
According to the present invention, the above object is achieved in a product management system comprising a product manufacturer device, a part manufacturer device and a device of a customer possessing a product, interconnected through a communication line, for managing the configuration of a product on a product number basis, and on a product number or manufacturing lot basis for each type of component parts which comprise the product, wherein the manufacturer company device comprises a function of providing configuration information on component parts which comprise each product, and information and services on the product, and the part manufacturer device comprises a function of providing configuration information on lower parts which comprise each part, and information and services on the part.
Also, the above object is achieved by making the information and services on the product and the part available to a customer who possesses the product, parties concerned who are involved in sales, manufacturing and maintenance of the product and respective component parts which comprise the product, the product itself, the respective component parts themselves which comprise the product, or third parties including public organizations.
Further, the above object is achieved in a product management method for managing a product configuration on a product number basis, and on a product number or manufacturing lot basis for each type of component parts which comprise the product, among a product manufacturer, a part manufacturer and a customer who possesses the product, wherein the product manufacturer provides configuration information on component parts which comprise each product, and information and services on the product, and the part manufacturer device provides configuration information on lower parts which comprise each part, and information and services on the part. Also, the above object is achieved by changing or updating the configuration information on component parts which comprise each product, and the configuration information on lower parts which comprise each of the component parts, when the product configuration of the product is changed.